When counting the program’s benefits as income, the number of children in households living on less than $2 per day before government aid -- the World Bank's threshold for being extremely poor -- dropped to 1.4 million from 2.8 million, according to the NPC study. And the number of extremely poor households also saw a huge drop thanks to food stamps, falling to about 800,000 from 1.46 million, the study found.

The election year has also made SNAP a target of heightened criticism from Republicans. Last week Republican Minnesota State Rep. Mary Franson equated food stamp recipients to wild animals. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich created the most uproar with his remarks that African-Americans should “not be satisfied with food stamps" and repeated references to President Obama as the "food stamp president"-- attacking the President for the program's high enrollment under his term.

Since President Obama took office in 2008, 14 million more Americans have enlisted in the program, due in large part the economic crisis, according to Reuters.